The Fallen Prince ☆4
"...."
Planning to throw a grenade? That's a problem. If it were a fragment-type grenade, you could avoid the shrapnel and blast with cover, but nowadays, thermobaric grenades are the norm. They spray powder or flammable liquid and ignite it, so cover doesn't help much.
"Well, I've got something even better than that."
Isaka immediately aimed the missile launcher attached to the vehicle at them and fired.
"Ah!"
The vampire assassins were startled as the anti-tank missile launcher turned toward them. They had just prepared a thermobaric grenade, but a grenade and a METIS missile? The difference in scale was enormous.
It was already too late to dodge. The missile exploded instantly at such close range, sweeping the vampires away with fire and shockwaves. For ordinary humans, the shock alone would be fatal, and even for vampires, it would burn their entire body, so it was certain to be effective.
However...
"Oh my god."
Isaka was horrified to see the enemies still standing unharmed amid the flames. The vampire assassins' skin had already melted and was slumping. The thermobaric blast had instantly burned their skin. At that level, even a vampire with immense vitality would be mortally wounded.
Yet something was off.
"Krkrkr."
"Kikikik."
The vampire assassins laughed and aimed their guns at Isaka. They were so burnt, yet they were still conscious and moving? They were more like perfectly grilled steaks than living bodies, and yet they moved…?
At this point, they were no longer ordinary high-ranking vampires.
No ordinary clan member could survive that; only an Esquire-level descendant of a True Demon or a True Demon themselves could stand in flames like that.
"Krkrkr. Surprised? I told you your era is over and a new one begins."
One vampire, pressing a wrist to his head, seemed to regain focus and chuckled. Seeing that, Isaka smiled faintly.
"Shall we shake hands?"
Isaka gently grasped the wrist pressed to the vampire's head and carefully lifted it so it wouldn't slip. Then he threw the vampire at the others. The vampires tried to counterattack, but their weapons, caught in the thermobaric blaze, were useless. They probably knew it consciously, but their minds were still heavily shocked. After all, their brains had been scorched; if they could think normally, that would be stranger.
The firearms, ruined by heat, didn't fire, and the vampire Isaka threw crashed into them. They tried to soften the impact by catching him together.
"Useless! We already have life force equivalent to True Demons..."
The vampires tried to engage in hand-to-hand combat, but Isaka leapt onto them, raising his hand knife.
"Do you really think so?"
-Whack!
Isaka's hand cleaved a vampire's neck in one clean strike. Beheading with a hand knife as if with an axe?! A vampire's muscle far surpasses a human's, making neck muscles incredibly tough. Cutting with a hand blade? Incredible.
"Ugh!"
Other vampires tried to react but had no way. The METIS missile couldn't kill them outright, but it was enough to immobilize them. Even supporting their thrown comrade strained them to the point of breaking legs.
"Yes. Still moving under sunlight… conscious even after decapitation."
Isaka grasped the severed head. Despite being cut off, the vampire's greedy binding force allowed not a drop of blood or tear to be wasted. Blood connected the head and torso like viscous threads. Let go, and the body would regenerate instantly. Even the burned vampires were regenerating rapidly.
"But why claim your era is over? I've never had an era of my own."
Isaka raised the severed head high and threw it with terrifying force. It collided with an approaching vampire, and both heads smashed like watermelons, brains mixing together.
"Ugh! It's moving!"
Another vampire, regenerated, lunged at Isaka. He caught the vampire's hands with one hand.
-Crunch!
The vampire's hands were crushed instantly. For a human, it would be catastrophic; for a vampire, not much. But…
Isaka spread his other hand and grabbed both vampire hands.
-Crunch!
"Argh… AAAHHH!"
The vampire screamed, thrashing.
"So, why claim your era is over?"
"The… the era where noble vampires suppress most vampires is… e-ending..."
At that moment, crack, the vampire's elbows dislocated. Shoulders popped, arms dangling. But Isaka spread his hands again and grabbed the arms. Removing debris from crushed fingers, he gripped shorter, holding the forearms.
-Crack.
Wrist bones shattered instantly.
"So why tell me that?"
"You… you're not Tetra Anax's elder brother?!"
Was that what they meant? Isaka suddenly got angry. His relationship with his sibling was complex, yet outsiders oversimplified it. Why would someone, let alone him, comment so simplistically on someone else's affairs?
-Crack!
The elbows below broke off. Isaka grabbed the upper arms and used his legs to hook the vampire's waist, just above the pelvis.
"Hup!"
With a short grunt, the dislocated shoulders twisted out. Shoulder muscles tore, exposing white bones, living cartilage, and joints. Using the pelvis as leverage, he yanked the short-gripped arms.
"...."
"Y-you're… tearing him apart alive!?"
The vampires panicked. Their bodies, like Olympic athletes compared to infants, seemed weak compared to Isaka's power—a difference akin to a human baby versus a gorilla.
"I've sacrificed a lot for my brother, but it's not like we're that close. Wow. Even now, he regenerates. Impressive."
Isaka marveled as the severed arms and forearms he cut regenerated. The limbs he tore from the vampires lifted blood and flesh from the floor to regenerate. The vampire's binding force was so greedy it didn't let tears escape, yet the blood defying gravity and rising was magnificent.
"Certainly has a satisfying bite."
Isaka swung the arms like clubs, smashing a vampire's head. Shoulders flew in from both sides, crushing the head completely. Skull and facial bones shattered entirely; it was as if the head never existed.
As the headless vampire fell, Isaka clawed the torso, splitting it like tearing a sack of grain. Holding the legs, he spun it overhead like a windmill and threw it with centrifugal force.
The lower half hit an old steel tower and flew beyond a distant building.
"Regeneration at True Demon level?"
Isaka nonchalantly grabbed the upper torso. Picking up the fallen forearm, he attached it to the upper body, assembling the vampire like a child playing with a transforming robot toy.
"Ah… ah!"
The vampire tried to scream but couldn't. Isaka spun the arms like a windmill, throwing the upper body in the opposite direction. Both torsos flew over 200 meters.
"...."
Other vampires watching were terrified. That would soon be their fate.
"Sturdy fellows, good for rehabilitation training. Yes, True Demon level."
Isaka cracked his neck, loosening his shoulders.
☆ ☆ ☆
'Go to Korea and assist under Arjuna's master.'
Serin asked Isaka—now going by Seohyun—to do so.
'How is that helping you?'
Seohyun questioned. The vampire assassins were handled easily, but that was situational. Objectively, they were formidable opponents. Their regeneration was near True Demon level, and their firepower was intense. Only government forces or Tetra Anax's private armies could operate armed groups firing anti-tank missiles in a secure state like Belarus. That such vampires attacked Tetra Anax's employees and Seohyun indicated serious problems with Tetra Anax's control.
Indeed, the attack left Tetra Anax's employees heavily injured. Even vampires resistant to sunlight were severely damaged by the first thermobaric strike.
The method Tetra Anax developed to withstand sunlight was a simple drug, preventing solar energy from disrupting vampires' VT factor—it did not grant enhanced physical ability like these assassins.
What is happening? If lower vampires could instantly increase their abilities like that, Tetra Anax's system would collapse. This is not just their problem; uncontrolled vampires could threaten the world in an instant.
Despite the urgency, Serin declined Seohyun's direct help.
'If you openly work with me, both of us would be in a bind. Besides, I'm not in a position to demand your full support.'
Vampires and lycanthropes had been long-standing enemies. Serin, the vampire king, being friendly with lycanthropes would be a political weakness.
Seohyun chose to follow his brother's wishes.
'Then, without holding hands, should I intervene with Tetra Anax's forces if necessary?'
'No choice, then.'
Serin, half-joking, answered seriously.
'Just save Se-geon for me.'
'Se-geon?'
'Han Se-geon. You know "Beast"?'
'Beast… ah, the True Demon hunter. Beast, right?'
Seohyun chuckled remembering Han Se-geon, then went serious.
'Is that even possible?!'
But Serin was sincere.
'I have to ask you. Only you can do this.'
And Seohyun… could not refuse Serin's request.
See You Next Moon